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Thursday, August 22, 2013

VATICAN CITY, August 22, 2013 –The Sunday after the Epiphany is the
Sunday of the baptism of Jesus. And on each of these Sundays, year after
year, Benedict XVI administered the first sacrament of Christian
initiation to a certain number of children, in the Sistine Chapel.

Each
time, therefore, he had occasion to pronounce the formulas supplied by
the rite of baptism in effect since 1969. But two of the words in this
rite never entirely convinced him.

And so, before renouncing the
chair of Peter, he ordered that they should be changed in the original
Latin, and as a result in the modern languages as well.

The
provision, which was worked up by the congregation for divine worship
and the discipline of the sacraments, was published in the official
bulletin of the dicastery, “Notitiae." Its existence was pointed out,
amid the silence of the Vatican media, by the newspaper of the Italian
episcopal conference, “Avvenire."

The decree that introduces the innovation, published in Latin, begins as follows:

"The
gate of life and of the kingdom, baptism is a sacrament of faith, by
which men are incorporated into the one Church of Christ, which subsists
in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and by the
bishops in communion with him.”

It is precisely on the basis of
this consideration that the congregation for divine worship and
discipline of the sacraments justified the variation in the second Latin
“editio typica" of the 1973 rite for the baptism of children (which in
the formula in question is identical to the first “editio typica" of
1969):

"So that in this same rite more light may be shed on the
doctrinal teaching of the task and duty of Mother Church in the
sacraments to be celebrated.”

The variation introduced is the following.

From
now on, at the end of the rite of reception, before signing with the
cross the forehead of the child or of the children, the priest will
longer say: "Magno gaudio communitas christiana te (vos) excipit," but
instead: "Magno gaudio Ecclesia Dei te (vos) excipit".

In
practice pope Joseph Ratzinger, as a sophisticated theologian, wanted
that in the baptismal rite it should be clearly said that it is the
Church of God - which subsists fully in the Catholic Church - that
receives those who are being baptized, and not generically the
“Christian community,” a term that also signifies the individual local
communities or non-Catholic confessions, like the Protestants.

The
decree published in “Notitiae" specifies that Benedict XVI
“benevolently established” the aforementioned variation in the course of
an audience granted to the prefect of the congregation, Cardinal
Antonio Cañizares Llovera, on January 28, 2013, just two weeks before
the announcement of his resignation as pope.

The decree bears the
date of February 22, 2013, the feast of the chair of St. Peter, and is
signed by the cardinal prefect and by the secretary, Archbishop Arthur
Roche. And it is said there that it went into effect on March 31, 2013,
already under the reign of Pope was Francis, who evidently had nothing
to object with regard to the decision of his predecessor.

The introduction of the variation in the modern languages will be overseen by the respective episcopal conferences.

Currently
in English the phrase in which the two words “Christian community” must
be changed to “Church of God” is: "The Christian community welcomes you
with great joy".

Departing
slightly from the original Latin are the German version: “Mit großer
Freude empfängt dich die Gemeinschaft der Glaubenden [The community of
believers welcomes you with great joy]" and the one in effect in Italy:
“Con grande gioia la nostra comunità cristiana ti accoglie [With great
joy our Christian community welcomes you],” where there is the addition
of an “our” not present in the original Latin.

The Italian
version is the one that Benedict XVI used each time he administered the
sacrament on the Sunday of the Baptism of Jesus. And perhaps it is
precisely that excessively self-referential “our” that induced the pope
theologian to decide on the change.

Until 2012, in fact, Benedict
XVI omitted the “our,” and although he was celebrating in Italian, he
told the little baptizands: "With great joy the Christian community
welcomes you.”

But in the end he must have considered the
original Latin ambiguous as well. So that on last January 13, in
celebrating baptism for the last time as supreme pontiff, he said: "Dear
children, with great joy the Church of God welcomes you.”

And shortly afterward, among the last measures of his pontificate, he prescribed this formula for the whole Church.

_________

THE TEXT OF THE DECREE

In
the decree published in "Notitiae", 557-558, Ian.-Feb. 2013, 1-2, pagg.
54-56, "communitas christiana" is changed to "Ecclesia Dei" in
paragraphs 41, 79, 111, 136, and 170 of the second "editio typica," or
normative, in Latin, of the 1973 rite for the baptism of children.

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